wedding dress

[Bee6969]

During pandemic I bought and fully paid for my wedding dress. Then one lockdown after another never had a chance to go back to the shop and try it on again. My wedding have to be postponed, this time is in June the hottest month of the year, as soon shop open up again I inform the staff that I need to change my dress to lighter one more suitable for summer wedding. I was happy for them to keep my money also happy to stay with the same designer. I was told there will be no refund or exchange. The staff in the shop told me they have to many dresses due to wedding being cancel. The dress I ordered its standard size 12 I never try it on and it was not tailored or in ay way customised. what do you think am I unreasonable.The shop its call Sassi Holford its not small boutique who can struggle for money.

You put a deposit on a specific dress and they ordered that dress, so YABU to expect them to eat the cost of the dress because you want a different one now. Even though it hasn't been tailored or customised, the shop won't make as much on reselling it as they would a new order.

It's bad luck for you, but in essence you changed your mind. The dress has already been purchased and made, the shop is no way at fault, so why should they take the risk of holding onto a dress they may struggle to sell?

YABU - terms you signed up for apply. The wedding industry has been really badly hit

You fully paid for a dress you hadn't tried on? Seems risky, unfortunately the shop has no obligation to refund just because you changed your mind.

I think it's unfair of you to name the shop.

Bridal shops have had a nightmare during Covid (as have many..) and cannot financially accommodate customers swapping, changing and wanting refunds because they don't like it now.

There is nothing in it for them, they don't want a random dress from last year in with their new stock.

Completely standard for bridal shops - they don't do change of mind refunds.

Unfortunately there are no statutory rights to refund or exchange for changing your mind. They ordered your dress in good faith and the circumstances are not their responsibility. There is guarantee another bride would choose same style and size. If they offer a hire service maybe they would give you a discount towards another dress and take the one you ordered? Or you try to sell it privately,

Sassi Holford is the designer/ brand. If you ordered directly from them they won’t have had to order in/pay for the dress so I can see why you’d be annoyed.
Maybe ask if you can purchase one of their other surplus dresses at a discount if someone else has ordered, paid and no longer wants it? It seems like they’re saying they have lots of those!
And eBay the original.

YABU, even the biggest businesses that had to close have been financially affected by covid! You should have checked the terms of your contract before setting a summer date if you really expected the dress to be exchanged for you. They havnt broken the contract.

I sympathise, but they are doing nothing wrong.

I sympathise (having also changed my mind about my wedding dress and bought another) but essentially you own it now and they've just been storing it at the shop for you. If there's nothing actually wrong with it you normally have no right of return.

Some shops will try to sell the dress for you on their sale rail or to a bride who needs an off-the-peg dress quickly. You'd get your money back minus a commission if it sells. Could you suggest this to them?

Otherwise you could try to sell it through a specialst bridal resale site like Still White but you may not get anywhere near what you paid for it, unfortunately.

You are totally out of order here.

You changed your mind. Wedding dresses can’t just be swapped like that.

They have bought and paid for the dress you asked for, they are not obliged to bear the cost of you changing your mind.

Find yourself a wonderful seamstress, take the dress, and see what can be done.

Most wedding dresses are made to order which is why you have to order so far in advance. Why should they be stuck with it because you changed your mind.

Bridal shops rarely do refunds or exchanges because they order dresses as needed to the correct size for the bride. If left with your dress, they would most likely have to sell it for a discount as an ‘off the rack’ dress. And if they offered that to all brides who have had to postpone their weddings, the costs would be huge.

Is it possible to have alterations made to the dress to make it lighter?

It’s tricky, I appreciate your frustration but wedding dress shops are normally very upfront about the conditions of sale/store policy and don’t need to honour anything beyond that.

I feel for you but you are being unfair to name the shop
They ordered it for you at your request
I sympathise but what do you expect them to do?

My daughter is in a similar position - she has a very expensive dress fully paid for in the bridal shop. She actually got married within days of the lockdown being lifted in our area and planned to have a big party today on her anniversary to celebrate. That is still not possible so the dress continues to languish in the shop but she would not consider asking for a refund or to change it.

Thank you for all your replay. its always good to see it from stranger perspective.

Is this her London branch? I was going to get my dress from her Taunton branch, ( 20 years ago, where she started out)but discovered I was pregnant and was not sure it would still fit. She was so helpful and understanding.

I would rather not say since I have already been accused of being unfair. In my defence when I try on the dress I could only have one person with me and have to wear mask when in the shop. I didn’t just change my mind my wedding have to be moved because of pandemic and there was really not many dates to choose from. Two years make big difference to how you look and how you fill about yourself and also to your personality and your style. But he ho I’m make my own bed don’t pay year in advance wait till the last minute. Mumsnet it really is like having a lot of sisters giving you advice thank you all x

Considering how cold the weather was today I think you may be happy for the (sleeves?). There s probably a way their seamstress can remove the sleeves etc

I think you are being unreasonable. Sassi Holford (and most other) bridal dresses are made to order. You've ordered and had it made. Bridal shops don't want unwanted dresses sat about in their shops and also just because it is a 'big business' in your words doesn't mean they don't have overheads and have suffered in the pandemic. The whole wedding industry has. The shop may also be franchised as well and isn't actually ran by Sassi Holford.
Can you just re sell the dress yourself? I changed my mind a few times about wedding dresses and had great luck with Preloved & Still White when I re sold. You won't make your money back but as it's a designer brand, unworn and unaltered you would get a fair price for it. I had a lady travel from London to Birmingham specifically for a Jenny Packham dress I sold.

https://www.stillwhite.com/sell?gl=gb&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIt6C49-Sa8gIVCutCh0MagdiEAAYASAAEgKUiPDD_BwE

Bridal dresses are made to order - even if there’s no adjustments in the order.

YABU. The boutique can’t return it to the designer. You’ve bought a dress and you can either wear it or sell it on (you won’t get much for it though) or give it to charity. It’s not the shop’s fault and is massively unfair to name them.